Masked Heart
by Thunder Of Friendship
Summary: The Shaman Tournament continues and Anna has Yoh on a new training program, a program that could risk his life. Luckily, a masked boy appears and helps him. But who is he? and why is he helping Yoh in the first place?
1. Prince Of Venice

Thunder: A new story, hope everybody likes it. Enjoy!Oh and by the way, the old poll is closed do I'll open a new one, in case anyone's interested...

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea (as in, the boy wearing the mask), it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**Prince Of Venice**

Yoh was running through the final round of Anna's new training program. It was still new, about a month ago, and she had picked a rather weird course for him to run in, it was in the woods, a place she knew was Yoh's favorite. Yoh shrugged the matter off the first few days, thinking that maybe she figured he'd function better in a place less inhabited by people that he might stop and talk to. He liked it at first, that is, until the day before yesterday.

He found out that a group of shamans live near the outskirts of the woods, where Anna had made him run, and they don't seem to be the friendly type. He also found out that they can be dangerous, their spirits were ferocious dragons and they weren't afraid to use them. Yoh winced as he touched his still healing shoulder; it was a warning, a warning that if he ever trespassed on _their_ land again, it would be worse than just _a scratch_ as they had called it.

He had tried to convince Anna to change the new course ever since, but all she had said was "_Good, now you get to train __**and**__ fight without me needing to worry."_ Yoh really wanted to beg more but when Anna says something, it's done, finished and with no space to negotiate. So…he simply had to face the facts and…endure. Yoh's shoulders sagged as he thought like that; it wasn't fair, neither that team would listen to him nor would his own fiancé.

It was in the afternoon, the sky a mixture of orange, pink and light red colors, signaling that the sun will set very soon. He had to hurry now, or else Anna would be angry about a late dinner. He ran faster and when he reached that team's _land_ he sped up, not wanting to confront them again, but he wasn't fast enough.

A strong gust of wind came and nearly swooped him off his feet; he staggered a bit until he found his balance and watched as the great creature descended from the sky, keeping his arm over his eyes to lessen the wind from hitting his face. The great black dragon flapped its wings to gain a steady landing and then slowly it stood right before Yoh, snorting warm, nearly burning air at his face. Then it slowly knelt down into a lying position.

Its neck alone must've been about three meters in length and it's body seemed to be shorter, about two meters and a half while the tail seemed to be almost as long as the neck if not a bit longer. Its wings were at least two meters in length, wide and apparently very strong. Each foot had three great, big, black, sharp talons. The head held strong looking horns and the teeth in its mouth were huge and sharp. There were four red scales on its forehead, forming a red diamond that stuck out in the midst of all the other dark black scales. It had blue eyes, as dark as the sea at night, the pupils were naturally serpent-like and would cause anyone fear.

Its rider soon slid down his dragon's shoulder and, like his dragon, would terrify anyone who looked at him. He was tall; his face held an amused, mischievous smile and his differently colored eyes were gleaming with joy. One was a dark turquoise while the other was a light blue color. His hair was a very dark, ruffled black, matching the scales of his dragon; it was a bit longer than Yoh's hair, a tiny bit beneath his neck. His clothes were of a weird style, a black shirt and pants. It was similar to noble clothes in a way, and yet it seemed different, especially with everything decorated and lined with weird red writings. He had a white mask on that had a long, beak-like nose. He also wore a brim hat. In Yoh's opinion, he was missing a cape.

Yoh stared at him blankly as he walked closer, he hadn't told Yoh his name, just that he was the leader; he didn't even mention the team's name. Yoh kept firm as the dragon sniffed around him and eyed him with stormy serpent eyes. The man was now a couple of steps away from Yoh, the dragon circling them from above with its neck.

"It seems that someone didn't learn his lesson, did you bambino?" The man said with a soft, low, almost gentle Italian accented voice. Not suiting his appearance at all, he seemed to be a man with many manners, but refused to use them. Yoh stood firm as he stared into the man's eyes, the tip of his long nosed mask millimeters away from Yoh's face. They stood there silently for quite a while then the man broke the silence.

"What's your name bambino?" He asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yoh Asakura." Yoh introduced himself with a gentle, polite tone. The masked man nodded at him and dropped his arms to his side.

"Asakura…you must be the younger twin…the little _leggendario_ hero who rid the world of the greatest evil." Yoh gulped at his change of tone. He didn't like where this was going.

"Let me tell you, Yoh, I don't like people who do bad things to their family." He said calmly and slowly. His words alarmed Yoh and he immediately went on the defensive side.

"Th-that's not true…I was forced to and at that moment it just-" He stuttered but then Amidamaru appeared in front of him. He glared at the masked man dangerously with his hand ready on his sword's hilt. The man gave a small, gentle laugh, but then his eyes grew serious.

"Well, you have much to learn about our squadra, Yoh. Let me introduce myself." He lifted his hand and placed it on his hat with an amused, gentle grin. Amidamaru moved to Yoh's side, still weary.

"Adrian, prince of Venice and direct discendente of Venice's first doge Ursus Ipato. As well as the captain of Team Artiglio." He said as he took his hat off and bowed. "At your service." He finished as he straightened, slightly tipping his hat back on and bowing his head politely, the amused smile still plastered on his face.

"P-Prince?" Yoh exclaimed in surprise. It all seemed weird and out of place, because a man acting as the gentleman he is wouldn't possibly be _this_ evil…but Yoh was never one to judge people by appearance….and he really needed a cape.

"Perdonami…but I must ask you to leave our area of land and never come again. We came and settled here since before the incidente with your brother, and we hate trasgressori. We let it go the first few weeks, but we cannot tolerate it anymore." He said with mild anger.

As for Yoh… he had his head slightly tilted to the right and his eyebrows furrowed in deep thought, eyes _very_ far away from the problem at hand. Yes, a nice long cape, red from the inside and black from the outside…and he'd clutch it with one hand and use it like a super villain, hiding half his face behind it and laughing that evil laugh…and his weird mask would be perfect for that too! And it would flutter nicely when he flies or slides down the back of his dragon. He'd be your perfect everyday super villain!...I wonder what we have for dinner, I'm hungry…oh wait! I have to cook dinner, that's great! I can cook whatever I like! Or no, I have to cook what Anna likes….hmm…what does Anna like that I like too? ... I want to cry…

Suddenly the sound of snapping fingers and someone calling his name brought him back to reality. He shook his head slightly and looked around. Amidamaru was the one calling his name and Adrian was crouched in front of him, snapping his fingers in front of his eyes.

"Is he always like this?" Adrian asked, looking at Amidamaru.

"Unfortunately, yes." Amidamaru answered and couldn't help but smile at his master's carefree attitude.

"Huh? What?" Yoh whispered to himself and looked around some more, even the vicious looking dragon had a tinge of surprise and confusion in its eyes. Adrian noticed Yoh's gaze on his dragon and smirked as he got up and walked to it.

"This here is ruby." He said as he stroked the female dragon's head, who purred like mad at the touch. Yoh smiled a tiny smile, even if he claimed that he was evil, he was still gentle. At least that's what he thought before Adrian turned to him with an evil smile.

"Oh and I'd like to add one more thing, she hates intrusi." Adrian told Yoh with a grin. Yoh gulped and stepped back as the dragon opened its huge jaws and roared and ear piercing roar.

"Now I'll give you just today. If you come back tomorrow then my little Ruby will have a descent dinner, capito?" Yoh slowly nodded and continued on his way, he had to convince Anna somehow or it will cost him his life!

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><p>Thunder: Ooookaay, so the first chapter was a bit…stuffed. Sorry about that, but I hope you liked it. By the way….if you think the Italian is too much, please tell me so that I can erase it…or lessen it…please tell me, okay?<p>

Please Review!


	2. Beginning Prologue

Thunder:

**Eli**: I didn't get to thank you for your previous reviews! But when you said that you didn't register here, I thought you meant that you have no account? Sorry but I'm really slow in catching onto things. :P Thanks a lot for the reviews, they're really nice ^-^ As for the sequel to Nataly…well, I don't have one! :D But I do have an indirect one, which is Luna…though it starts with a different girl who crosses roads with Moon.

**Osorezanaurevoir**: it's not that I forgot, I was just a bit afraid. Everyone, **osorezanaurevoir** helped me a lot with the oneshots/sonfics I posted a few weeks ago, she gave me all the advice and helped me a lot. I hope I did good and that I didn't ruin the name of sonfics…Thanks a lot.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

And now….Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**Beginning/prologue**

It's been two and a half months since that last meeting and many things happened. For one, Hao showed up once again in the village, not that it surprised many since they were expecting it. The X-Laws now have more motivation than ever and his parents made no big comment about it. Anna however, decided that the new training was a high success. Yoh would run through the woods, getting his exercise and then he'd fight team Artiglio at the end, sometimes she'd even let him take Amidamaru and Harusame with him.

Now fighting with team Artiglio wasn't that bad, except that they didn't mind slashing him a lot. Yoh built up more and more reflexes and developed them, now he was an excellent dodger but that still didn't mean that he came out unscratched. He slowly got to know the team's members too, the prince was always polite but dangerous at the same time, but the most intriguing person so far was the red haired, German boy. He was just a bit older than Yoh's age but he was the weirdest person he had ever met. While the third brown haired, Spanish man was as silent as the walls. They all fought very well, and they all had dragons and dragon swords.

It was fine the first two months but now they seem to be really angry and they're not showing any form of mercy. Now Yoh was tied up to a tree in a sitting position, head bowed tiredly and shoulders sagged, eyes empty and tired, a couple of bruises adorned his face and there were some fresh cuts on his arms and chest, clothes slightly torn.

The night has fallen, sky dark and spotted with bright white dots, owls hooting, grasshoppers chirping, wind blowing soft and low, moving the wood's long grass with its movements, then came another sound…one that defied the flow of the wind, moving against it, rustling against the grass.

Yoh lifted his head, squinting in the dark to see the moving figure, as there was no moonlight tonight. He saw a dark figure, moving closer and closer, uttering sounds that resembled growls or snarls, for all Yoh knew, he could be some animal's next meal. The figure stopped a few steps away from him; Yoh tensed up a bit as the figure moved again. It seems like it was a person and not some wild animal, Yoh was safe, or so he thought.

He looked up at the person, staring hard to identify his features. Yoh let a disappointed frown surface up, the person's face held nothing but annoyance and anger as he had one hand leaning on the tree and the other on his hip, looking at him expectantly with deep, dark brown eyes.

"Out of all the people and all the places, what are you doing here?" The low whispered question was filled with contained anger; Yoh took a few minutes to realize that it was actually Hao's voice! He blinked at the question, looked down at himself, and then back up at his brother.

"I think it's quite obvious that I'm tied up." Yoh answered, trailing off a bit. Hao gritted his teeth, willing himself to stay calm.

"I can see that." He seethed, barely hiding his anger. "What I'm asking you is why." He clarified, regaining his calm.

"Oh!" Yoh said blinking, and then an impish grin helped itself onto his face. "I didn't know you cared about me, Hao." He said with a childish voice and a look that seemed to confirm any suspicion that he was trying to get Hao mad, and Hao caught the bait.

"I don't care about you!" He bellowed at Yoh and then growled as he realized how stupid he was acting. "I was just wondering, can't a person wonder?" He countered instead but then thought that he shouldn't have, the answer though, was something he didn't quite expect.

"Of course you can." Yoh replied cheerfully. Hao stared at him for a while. "And?" He finally said as silence went on for too long.

"Oh, well…somebody tied me up of course! I couldn't tie myself up, you know?" Yoh explained giving a sheepish grin. Hao's eye twitched and he considered smacking him on the head but decided to play along and smirked his signature smirk and bent lower, closer to Yoh.

"You must be in big trouble then, you know?" He whispered to him sarcastically. Yoh gulped and nodded his head, not looking at Hao and his head bent down so that his bangs hid his face. Hao's face grew impassive as he stared at his brother.

"What did you get yourself into this time?" He muttered as he worked the multiple knots open in the rope that bound Yoh. Yoh on the other hand stared at him wide-eyed in shock, Hao, his brother, was helping him! He was about to say something but Hao interrupted him.

"No, I don't care what you got yourself into. I'm only freeing you so you can get lost and I won't have to see your silly face, and make sure I won't see it ever again for that matter. And don't think that I'd hesitate in burning you to crisp next time for what you did, understand?" He said nonchalantly as if answering Yoh's silent questions one by one.

Yoh stared at him for a few seconds as the rope went loose around his body and then nodded his head vigorously. He couldn't help cracking a wide grin as he stood up and attacked Hao with a **big** hug.

"Thank you Hao!" Yoh screamed in his ear.

"Get off of me!" Hao, startled and a bit angry, backed up a few steps before pushing Yoh away, causing the younger to stagger and fall down. As if that did much, Hao thought to himself sarcastically as he watched Yoh get up with that grin still plastered on his face as he brushed dust off his pants and then turned around to run towards the village.

"Idiot." Hao muttered to himself shaking his head, then he continued with his nightly walk in the other direction.

Unbeknownst to both twins, the three members of Artiglio were standing far away, watching the scene with full interest.

"What do you think of that my amici?" Adrian asked his two teammates.

"Hm." Was the only response one of the two gave. He was a tall man, slightly taller than Adrian was and with short, puffed brown hair. He had a long, dark golden yellow scarf, lined and decorated with the same red writings that Adrian had on his clothes, it was covering his nose, mouth and neck. He wore a dark brown, short poncho with many of the red writings crisscrossed over it and other words floating on the fabric on their own, what was visible underneath the poncho was a black, long sleeved shirt; he also had dark grey pants on, also outlined with the red writings.

"Na, I think we'll be having lots of spaß, no?" The other said, his German accent jumping right out. He seemed to be just a bit older than Yoh; he was sitting on a tree branch, legs swinging with joy and an amused grin on his half-hidden face. He had a white mask on that only covered the right half of his face; it didn't even have holes for the eyes, just weird pink eyelashes, resembling a closed eye. His short hair was a roaring red, bright and it stood out very clearly in the dark. His left eye was a light yellow color. He wore a very long, black scarf; it had the red writings only at the two ends, decorating it with a V shape. It was twisted only once around his neck, the end behind his back reached down to inches above his ankles while the end that was on his front reached down to his knees. His shirt was black, decorated with the red writings in V shapes that went down his chest and part of his stomach. His pants were also black and were decorated the same way with the red writings, only they were only surrounding the lower parts of the pants and ended before the ankles.

Back at the inn…

Yoh snuck in as silently as possible into the inn he and his friends were in. It was already three at night, if anyone caught him now, especially Anna, then he'd be in big trouble.

"Where were you?" The calm, emotionless question startled Yoh to the point that he jumped and yelped. He stood there frozen, staring at Anna who was standing right in front of him, arms crossed and face emotionless.

"Um, well, I was tied up today so…" He trailed off with a sheepish grin and watched her reaction. She stared back at him for a while in suffocating silence, then she turned around and walked away.

"Go get some sleep." She said nonchalantly as she disappeared in the corner. Yoh stood there for a moment then smiled to himself and walked to the bathroom, quickly washing his face and adding some disinfectant and he went straight to his sweet soft bed, catching on to some hours of sleep.

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><p>Thunder: Okay so this chapter was stupid…..and it took me so long too, I'm sorry.<p>

* amici: friends (Italian)

* artiglio: claw/talon (Italian)

* spaß: fun (German)

Please Review!


	3. A Letter From A Stranger

Thunder: Enjoy!

**AnimexXxGoddess: **No, THAT wasn't THE masked boy. He'll appear in this chapter though :D and Team Artiglio have only three members.

**Eli:** I'll see to it, if I finish this story soon….and by soon I mean next year around this time, I'll start with Luna. But let me tell you that Luna's ending is a cliffy too; I'd have to start Endless Adventures after it. And if that one ever gets done then it would still be a cliffy and I'd have to start Surprise! And afterwards I'd need to start A New Future, A New Life….so as you can see…..if I start one it's all like pulling on a VERY long string. But I promise I'll try….I'm lazy too. *sheepish grin*

**SK-fan7: **Sorry ^-^'

Oh and by the way….I didn't see Hao as caring there…o.o…oh well, readers are judges…

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**A Letter From A Stranger**

"WHERE IS HE?" Anna's screams and yells would have _literally _awakened the dead from their ever-lasting slumber.

"Anna, calm down! I'm sure he's out training, just like you told him to!" Horo Horo tried to make excuses but only got a hard slap that blew him flat to the wall, where he fainted.

"Be reasonable, Anna. Yoh wouldn't be out at this time with no perfectly good reason. He respects you and-" Ren said seriously from where he stood but was cut by another one of Anna's shrieks.

"SHUT UP!" She snapped at Ren and readied her hand to slap him as well. Just before the slap made contact, the doorbell rang. Everyone, Ryu, Faust, Manta, Chocolove, and even Tamao were awake, with all of their respective spirits floating next to them in spirit ball mode, stared at the door then back at Anna, holding their breath in anticipation. Anna finally growled and stomped towards the door.

"Saved by the bell." Ryu whispered to Ren as they all walked after her. Ren simply twitched nervously and went after the others.

Everyone was gathered at the door, Anna being at the very front. They were all staring at something particular, looks of shock and confusion and stifled chuckles were around the air. Ren had enough of that and pushed his way through, surprised to hear faint snores and finally saw a drooling, sleeping Yoh. Everyone was speechless.

"Yoh? Buddy why are you sleeping at the entrance?" Horo Horo exclaimed as he pushed his way through the small crowd, only to get a punch in the face from Anna.

"OW! What did I do?" He asked as he covered his red face.

"Don't shout next to my ear you idiot…" She muttered and proceeded to kick Yoh, who jerked up with a yelp. He looked around slowly, and then watched his fiancé and friends.

"Yo!" He said with his cheerful smile and careless attitude as he raised his hand. Everybody sweat dropped.

"Your training will be doubled." Anna growled in annoyance then turned around and entered the house, stomping and muttering to herself. Yoh only stared at the place where she had left, mouth opening and closing in disbelief.

"But, But…what did I do?" He exclaimed and looked up at his friends, expecting an answer. Most of them shrugged, Manta chuckled and Ren helped Yoh up to his feet.

"You really got her going crazy master." Ryu commented as they went in. Horo Horo then proceeded in telling him what had happened.

"Wow…" Yoh was speechless. His fiancé had made this huge fuss just because he didn't come home in time?

"I'm really sorry you guys." Yoh apologized as they all entered into the living room.

"No need to be sorry. We were all worried about you." Manta said with a reassuring smile and Yoh smiled back.

"Where were you anyway?" Chocolove asked and everyone looked at Yoh expectantly.

"The same." He answered with a shrug. It had become a habit that he was late, so everyone knew what _the same_ means so they all nodded and went back to their beds, everyone except Ren, who stood by the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. Yoh and Ren stared at each other for a while, Ren keeping his suspicious look.

"What is it Ren?" Yoh finally asked with a sheepish grin.

"You usually come back from there with scars…and normally not _that_ energetic." He stated, still eyeing Yoh. Yoh blinked and looked down at himself then frowned.

"You're right…" He said as he touched his chest, where most of the scars would be, but nothing hurt…he looked back up at Ren, a puzzled look on his face.

"I could swear my chest was covered with them, and I'm sure I felt pain…but now…" He told him then trailed off.

"Nothing?" Ren finished for him and Yoh nodded, eyebrows still furrowed in confusion.

"Do you remember how you got here?" He asked but Yoh shook his head no. They both stood there, both deep in their own thoughts.

"Well, no need to break our heads thinking about it." He said with a sheepish grin then he yawned. "Let's get some sleep…while we still can." He finished and then went straight to his sweet bed. Ren soon followed and did the same.

The next few nights went exactly the same and it finally reached a state in which the gang had to go out and search for Yoh under Anna's orders. Everybody was exhausted from lack of sleep and the tournament is about to start again, the first battles are just a few days away and they can't even keep their eyes open! Anna didn't have any problems and still sent everyone on their regular training schedule. Yoh on the other hand, was his same old self, not troubled by anything, but soon enough it was getting out of his hands, to the point that he was sleeping while running, and Manta is a witness of this.

OOOO

"You're not tired yet, ragazzo?" Adrian asked tiredly from his position, leaning on a tree, waving his hand as he spoke like a true Italian. "Poiche I had quite enough of this nonsenso, why do you come back if you know what's waiting for you?" He asked in an almost irritated way. Yoh laughed nervously in response.

"It's not really in my hands…" He said with his sheepish smile and shrugged, sweat trickling down his forehead from all the running he did. Adrian stared at him through his thin mask, eyeing him with different colored eyes.

"That's not the answer I want to udire." He said plainly. Yoh gulped and backed away a few steps then stopped right after he heard two men from the tree branches above his head drop down behind him. He turned around swiftly to meet whom he knew as Miguel, the silent shadow and Lazar, the juggler. Miguel's silver eyes bore into Yoh's as he moved closer while Lazar stood chuckling in his place.

"Na, na, na." He said while stifling his chuckles and shaking his head. "Lieber Yoh, it was a fehler to come here today. I'm in one of my…" He said then trailed off, his laughter barely controlled. Yoh didn't need him to finish his sentence to know that he is in one of his _hysterical _states. It wasn't long till everything turned black.

OOOO

Yoh woke up after a harsh beating; he remembered pain but now…nothing. He opened his eyes, assuming that he'd see the ceiling of his room but instead he saw the deeply interwoven branches and leaves of the many trees around him. He slowly sat up and looked around himself; there was a neat circle of stones placed right next to him with sticks stacked together in the middle of it, clearly used to light a fire. Then he looked down at himself, there were no scars anymore, not any new ones at least, even the old ones seemed to have healed somehow, but there were a few plasters on some parts of his arms.

He stood up and was surprised to see that what he was lying on was a nice and comfortable makeshift bed of large leaves and soft cut grass, neatly arranged beneath him. Somebody was helping him and whoever he was, he did it with the utmost care. But who was it?

Yoh started looking around, searching in the dark night for any sign of movement. Out of the corners of his eye, he saw a shadow slowly moving closer from between the trees. Yoh took a few steps closer and waved his arm, calling out a loud _hello_. Yoh saw the person stop abruptly, it was too dark and too far away, to make out any features, just that he is about his size, so probably the same age as well.

"Are you the one who helped me?" Yoh asked as he started walking towards him. The person must have been carrying something in his arms, wood, judging by the sounds it made when it fell to the floor; the person then turned around and started running away.

"Hey wait!" Yoh called and ran after him, a few seconds later he stopped and started panting hard, he hadn't realized just how exhausted he really was, every single muscle in his body was screaming for some sort of relief from the pain. After catching up with his breath, he looked around and found that he had lost track of the boy. He took one long, deep breath and…

"Whoever you are, thank you!" he called out as loud as he could, cupping his mouth to make sure it would reach the boy wherever he was. Then he turned around and started walking back to his house, but then he stumbled over a basket of fruits. He stared at it and blinked a few times before picking it up. He noticed the corner of a piece of paper sticking out from beneath a couple of apples; he pulled it out and opened the small folds. It was written very carefully, with handwriting that was very clear and neat, it read:

_Here are some fruits for you; they'll give you some energy. Watch your back from now on and don't let anyone do anything like that to you again._

_Take care,_

_-A Stranger_

Yoh smiled happily and helped himself to one of the many fruits in it.

Back in the deep woods, behind a bush and a tree trunk, the boy was hiding. His body hidden behind the tree trunk, only one small eye peeked from behind the thick layers of hair over it, a tentative hand placed on the side of the trunk, hiding his soft, satisfied smile from any viewer. He watched Yoh as he retreated into the darkness and then turned around to leave.

OOOO

"Yoh?" Yoh heard his name being called and he moved faster towards the source. Soon he saw Ren and Chocolove walking and looking in every direction.

"Hey guys! What are you doing out this late?" Yoh asked as he reached them.

"There you are man! We've been looking all over for you that's what!" Choco answered and Yoh's eyebrows furrowed a bit.

"Why?" He asked in confusion and Ren slapped his forehead with the base of his palm.

"Because that's what we've been doing for the past few weeks!" Ren nearly yelled and soon they were walking back home with Yoh telling them of what had happened today.

"Then…that's the basket you're talking about?" Ren started then paused and sighed. "Sorry Yoh, I'm so tired that I can't even concentrate on what you're saying." He told Yoh tiredly. Yoh merely grinned and nodded his head.

"Lately the nights were all about weeping rather than sleeping." He said while tilting his head back and a waterfall of tears started falling from each eye.

"Then let's sweep!" Choco shouted and jumped around, wearing a costume that resembled a broom. Ren smacked him on the head annoyed, causing the afro boy to lose balance and fall, and then Ren proceeded to walk with Yoh at his side.

"That was a bit mean Ren…" Yoh said playfully as he sweat dropped. Ren huffed.

"My nerves are already on their edge, I can't handle silly jokes." He muttered.

"But this one was actually smart and not silly! Sweep rhymes with sleep and weep, I did a good one this time!" Choco kept making out reasons and excuses all the way back to the inn and as a matter of fact, Ren had given up and proceeded in ignoring Choco half the way back.

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><p>Thunder: …..no comment, just that it sucks and now I have a headache pounding….if I were Ren….my head would have exploded already….heh ^-^ Okay another few things, Miguel is the guy with the yellow scarf and black poncho. Lazar is the guy with a half mask; he is nicknamed the juggler because if you look into a dictionary, one of the meanings of juggle is to misrepresent: give a false or misleading account of. Just in case someone asks, and because I didn't find a place to say all this inside the story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.<p>

*Ragazzo: Boy (Italian)

*Poiche: Because (Italian)

*Nonsenso: Nonsense (Italian)

*Udire: Hear (Italian)

*Liebe: Dear (German)

*Fehler: Mistake (German)

Please Review!


	4. Help Me, The Dragon Is Chasing Me!

Thunder: Enjoy! And…..if you ask my opinion, the Dragon could either be the real dragons, or, which is what I really think, the girls that are after the gang. In any case, ENJOY! Oh and sorry for the words…..I'm not the type to actually use such words but…..hope you don't mind.

**Yoah Asakura: **hehehe. Thank you! :D No I don't speak Italian, but when I use a word form another language I search for it in details. There are various meanings to just one word and it's hard to pick the exactly right one, so it's great that you know Italian! I can speak German though :P No need for apologies with me ^-^ As for who the boy really is, you won't get to know till the LAST chapter of this story…or maybe the chapter before the last?...I shouldn't have said that, huh? :D Have fun guessing!

**SK-fan7: **See that's why I'm afraid if I ever start a story that I ACTUALLY like, people would hate it…..it's logical really…and thank you so much for all that you have said, it was very nice and kind of you ^-^ As for Choco, I just realized that in the stories that I usually read, he's not actually there, so I want to give him some part of the picture at least. And now I realize that I had totally forgotten Lyserg, hehe. Yoh was cute?...if you say so…..boy, I can never even dream of being a fan girl if I don't understand these stuff. Hehe, thank you for all of your encouraging words. I won't give up any story I start, it is mine and I am proud of it, that alone should keep me going even if I hate it, my pride exceeds the fact of whether I like it or not. So no worries, if I hate it then the updates will take REALLY long :P

**The Devil Inside: **Hey you're right! I know German, but I've never written it before so now things are getting clearer. Now that you mention it, I've never heard them say Liebe when talking to a guy. That's true, I changed it, thanks a ton for telling me! :D Thank you for the review!

**Eli:** Okay then ^-^ I'll be sure to write it as soon as I get the time to, or maybe when I finish this story? :D

**AnimexXxGoddess: **EVERY WEEK? You know…that is almost impossible….every month would be nice or every two months maybe?…..hmmm, I can try I guess? I'm glad you liked it ^-^

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**Help Me, The Dragon Is Chasing Me!**

"Can't _pant_ run _pant _any _gasp_ faster!" Yoh managed as he ran on the new running machine with Anna sitting on a chair next to him, holding a remote in her hand.

"Pirika, please! What did I do to deserve this?" Horo shouted as he ran on a machine similar and next to Yoh.

"Come on, brother! Don't let that lazy bum get the best of you!" Pirika shouted, thinking it would pep him up a bit.

"Those running machines are quite interesting, I can even make them go faster." Anna mused to herself and then pressed one of the buttons, making the machine go faster than before, which made Yoh struggle more. Horo laughed and then Pirika only made his own machine move faster than Yoh's. Ren sighed from the corner he was standing in.

"She made me buy those things and you just wait and see, the next day she'll say that they are useless." Ren grumbled to Chocolove who stood next to him.

"Hey man, cheer up. At least she doesn't have us doing something. Poor Ryu has to mop and dust the whole house while Tamao and Manta have to cook and-" He was cut off by a very familiar voice.

"Oh Reeeeeen!" Jun's voice rang in the air and Ren stiffened.

"Hey Ren, I think your sister is looking for you." Choco said but his comment went unnoticed by the panicking Ren.

"Crap, crap, crap, nothing to do my ass. You're lucky you don't have any sisters that drive you insane. Cover for me!" Ren ordered his teammate and ran off to the opposite direction. Choco blinked a few times then turned just in time to meet Jun.

"Have you seen Ren?" She asked him enthusiastically, eyes full of hope.

"No ma'am. But he said that he wanted to go to the Patch main square, I'm not sure why. Did you try looking there?" Choco lied and pointed to the opposite direction. Jun sighed.

"But I was just there!" She whined and ran to the direction she came from.

"Thanks a lot Choco, I owe you one." Ren whispered as he popped his head down from the roof. Choco only stared at him wide eyed.

"Are my ears deceiving me or did I hear you say what you just said?" He said in disbelief, one hand over his ear to emphasize his words but then Ren grabbed him from the collar of his shirt.

"If you ever let word of his get out, I'll kill you!" He said from behind gritted teeth and Choco sighed in relief.

"Now that's the Ren I know. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me…on one condition." He said smirking and Ren glared at him.

"What?" He asked dangerously.

"In my next joke, you have to laugh as hard as you can and admit that it is funny in front of the whole gang!" Choco said crossing his arms over his chest, proud that he had came up with such an idea

"Why you!" Ren yelled and jumped at him, bringing out his Kwan Dao.

"Oh, oh Pirika look! The boys are fighting I-I mean training! I shouldn't be missing out on that one, see ya!" He excused and ran off, diving into the cloud of the fighting duo and joined in.

"Brother! Come back!" Pirika yelled but then sighed irritatedly and stomped back into the house. Yoh collapsed on his machine and laughed tiredly.

"So I guess this is it for today Anna?" He asked her hopefully with a sheepish grin.

"For now yes, after lunch you will have the same run around the woods, try not to be late as usual, okay?" She stated casually and stood up to leave, leaving Yoh with waterfall-like tears streaming down his face.

"You know, they seem like they actually enjoy it." Adrian stated as the three of them rode on their dragons high in the sky and watched Yoh and his friends.

"Who?" Asked Miguel, riding his dusty brown dragon, Polvo.

"The ragazze of course." He replied. Lazar chuckled as he looked over his dragon's shoulder, Asche, to see the scene beneath him and he chuckled some more.

"What shall we do with him heute?" He asked with his half arrogant face, amusement in his eye.

"What do you suggerire?" Adrian asked.

"Well, Asche hasn't had a fight in a long time, right mädchen?" He said, stroking the neck of his grey dragon.

"I think you are giusto, tonight will be exciting." Adrian said excitedly with a grin as he steered Ruby towards their own house.

OOOO

"I have no heart and no body to fight today…" Yoh told himself tiredly as he slowly ran to his _second phase_ hell training.

"Yoh!" It was Lazar's voice and soon enough the red haired boy came racing towards him. Yoh gulped and backed away a few steps until a strong gust of wind and a wild roar resounded from behind Lazar. The dragon, Asche, was flying right behind her master, looking just as amused as he did, if the dragon's yellow eyes gave any indications, that is…

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" Yoh suddenly started running faster than he ever did in this entire day, for his own dear life. Screaming words of _why me? _Or _What did I do to deserve this?_

While the other two dragon riders were slowly catching up to their hyper companion, another person was beating them to him, in an unexplainable speed. The boy seemed to have actually _slowed down_ his pace, waved at the two of them and then sped off ahead. They couldn't say what his facial expression was exactly, for he was wearing a mask that covered his entire face, but from that cheeky wave, he was surely smiling or even grinning.

"That was extraño." Miguel stated a few moments later. His Spanish accent finally showing.

"Sì, my amico. Very strano davvero." Adrian said,nodding as they sped after the three boys.

"Gah!" Yoh tripped and fell to the ground, giving time for Lazar to catch up. He quickly got up and turned around to face the half masked boy, now he _really_ had enough of running for today. His heart was pounding in his chest, his pants and blood rushing through his body were all he could hear.

"Endlich!" Lazar exclaimed and ran in a much slower pace, catching up on his breath as well.

"Heute will be very fun lieber Yoh!" He said enthusiastically as he jumped to try and grab Yoh, only to see a flash of turquoise cross in front of him and miss Yoh to finally hit the ground hard. He got to his knees and shook his head, turning it fully to see what exactly is going on.

"Sorry Lazar, but Yoh is being abducted today. Have fun with someone else!" The boy's voice sounded happy and sort of impish. He had one hand on Yoh's mouth and the other wrapped tightly around his waist and arms and before Lazar could make any protest, he had already vanished in a cloud of dust, running away in super speed.

Lazar stood there, still on his knees, mouth opening and closing in disbelief. Asche had changed into a tiny form of herself, big enough to look like a raven's size. She put her front paws on her master's lap, looking at him curiously with yellow eyes while uttering soft friendly growls. His two companions soon reached him as well, panting heavily.

"Hey, Lazar?" Adrian asked cautiously, knowing what horrors the boy can make when he gets upset. Too bad that that was exactly what had happened, Lazar got up, cursing and screaming with his mother language and literally going on a rampage before Adrian, Miguel and Asche attempted to get in his way and calm him down.

"There is always another time." Adrian tried to say between the many screams and shouts of protests Lazar gave as he grabbed him by the arm.

"Sì." Miguel agreed as he grabbed the other arm and they both dragged him back, Lazar's shouts and kicks didn't stop at all though. While Asche simply flew over her master's head.

OOOO

Sitting on a tree branch, observing the whole scene was the masked boy. If it weren't for Lazar's erratic screams and shouts, then they would all have already found his place, for he was laughing so hard while clutching the sides of his stomach. Yoh sat near the base of the branch, staring wide eyed at his new and strange kidnapper.

"Ah, ahaha, wait, wait, sorry. Let me wipe the tears away first, wait!" He turned away from Yoh and seemed to take off his mask, wipe the said tears away and put the mask back on then turned to face Yoh, still giggling.

"Let's go somewhere where we can sit and talk freely, okay?" He asked with an amused voice. Yoh stared at him.

"You're asking for my opinion?" He asked after a long pause. The boy seemed to stare at him through his mask and long silence filled the air.

"You know I just said what I had said there so they would leave you alone, right?" the boy asked in a weird tone and it finally hit Yoh as he mouthed a long _oh_ and then turned to grin sheepishly. The boy smiled and led him through the trees, into a secret path over interwoven branches, until they reached a place far enough for them to not worry about anyone bothering them anymore. The boy quickly piled up a few dry sticks and started a fire using two rocks, then he sat against one tree trunk and Yoh sat against the one in front of the boy.

Silence filled the air as Yoh stared intently on the boy's mask, it was white and had a small, weird looking turquoise tattoo on it, he couldn't say what it was shaped like, maybe just thin, plain lines and curves crossing over his eye slits and some parts of his forehead. He had a turquoise half sleeved T-shirt on, it was quite loose on him and he wore dark blue, loose jeans, and normal black training shoes. His hair seemed long, Yoh noted, since he had crept behind the boy all the way here. It was carefully twisted into a thin rope shape and then twisted and turned again in a tiny ball of hair, held tightly by a small hair clip then it was let down freely and reached down right beneath the shoulder blades. The light and shadow the fire's light cast on him made him look even more intimidating, his mask for one looked very foreboding, but Yoh saw a slight part of the boy's personality and was sure he was nothing like what he seemed.

"So, who are you?" The sudden question seemed a bit off, and it somehow surprised Yoh. He looked down at the boy's left arm and sure enough, an oracle bell was tied to it.

"You don't know me?" He asked a bit taken aback. The boy tilted his head to the right. "I-Don't get me wrong, please! I don't think of myself as famous or anything it's just…I did something in the final parts of the first tournament that left an impression on most shamans…" He added quickly.

"And…what did you do?" The boy asked curiously. Yoh gulped and looked away.

"I…I had fought my brother and…dealt enough damage for everyone to think he was dead, but he's not! He's alive!" he murmured but said the last part quickly and loudly. The masked boy scoffed and turned his head from one direction to the other.

"Okay, from the sound of it, you seem guilty about it. So back to the point, who are you?" he asked again.

"Yoh Asakura." Yoh introduced himself with a slight bow of his head.

"Asakura? That's a weird name." The boy thought to himself aloud.

"You never heard of our family?"

"Is it famous?"

"Rather _in_famous. But you must've heard of Hao at least?" Yoh asked but the boy shook his head no.

"Are you from Japan?"

"Yes."

"That makes it even weirder…but I guess you were in another, maybe far away city." Silence fell on them for a few seconds but then Yoh spoke.

"It's funny though…I haven't seen you fighting anywhere in the tournament before…" Yoh wondered.

"Sorry I forgot to tell you, but this is my first time in the Patch village, I wasn't present in the first parts, where it had to be stopped and stuff. I reached here just a few weeks ago." The boy told him, sounding apologetic. Yoh merely smiled at him and nodded then frowned.

"You're pretty late then." Yoh stated and the boy just laughed.

"My name is Shiro by the way." He finally revealed his name and Yoh nodded with a smile.

"So you have any team members yet? Or you're still looking?" Yoh asked out of curiosity and to pick up a conversation but the boy just stared at him for a while.

"I also forgot to tell you that I had lost in the preliminary rounds of the first tournament!" Shiro informed him rather cheerfully and Yoh stared wide eyed.

"Then how can you even be here?" Yoh exclaimed.

"Ah, right, okay. I won one fight, had a draw in the second and the officers decided that the both of us had failed it, and in the third one the guy took a swift, misleading move and literally stabbed me in the back, quite close to the spine and I lost consciousness. Other than that he was really nothing, I mean, I'm not showing off but I really do have talent." He explained with arms crossed over his chest.

"And what is your talent?" Yoh asked with a smile, thinking Shiro was acting a bit childish there.

"Well, I happen to be an expert in spells." Shiro told him proudly.

"Spells?" Yoh inquired looking confused. "Your power as a shaman is spells?"

"Not just _any _kind of spells. High leveled spells, spells that can even corrupt your soul if I wanted to." Shiro said as he waved around with his hands. Yoh gulped at the thought and at his serious tone but then Shiro burst out laughing.

"I'm kidding with you, man! I have elemental spells and powers, my favorite is wind, and I actually _can_ place spells on bodies and on people, mostly it's illusions or barriers but nothing I can do could ever corrupt a person's soul. So relax!" He said with lots of amusement in his voice, the glints Yoh could manage to see from behind the eye slits showed that his eyes were gleaming with joy, so he sighed in relief and started to laugh.

"So after being rejected for a stupid reason, I started to look for Patch Village all on my own, I can't participate anymore but at least I get to watch the fights. Too bad that after the long search it turned out that the tournament was moved to this island, and…after I reached it, it had turned out that it was stopped already and so I waited for the second tournament to come out, and it did…and here I am!" Shiro finished his explanation and laughed. Yoh laughed as well, liking his new friend immediately.

"You should go now, it's getting late. I'm sure you're craving for a decent and warm bed rather than leaves and grass right?" Shiro said as their laughter died down. Yoh stared at him for a moment and then pointed at him, gaping a bit before saying-

"You were the one who was helping me before?" He asked in disbelief.

"No! And you figured that out just now?" Shiro asked sarcastically and started laughing again. Yoh only looked away and blushed, he opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Shiro.

"Don't worry, Yoh. I know today was full of crazy events for you, besides, you never saw me before, right?" He said soothingly and Yoh could feel a grin coming from behind that mask. Yoh grinned at him, thanked him and then turned to walk away in a fast pace in order to reach his beloved bed as soon as possible.

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><p>Thunder: For once….I actually enjoyed writing this chapter….so, for once, you won't be hearing any complaints from me. I hope you liked it, seeing as anything I hate you like, I hope that because I liked this, doesn't mean that you guys hated it. Um, point is, I hope you enjoyed it!<p>

* Ragazze: Girls (Italian)

* Heute: Today (German)

* Suggerire: Suggest (Italian)

* Mädchen: Girl (German)

* Giusto: Right (Italian)

* Extraño: Strange (Spanish)

* Sì: Yes (Spanish/Italian)

* Amico: Friend (Italian)

* Strano Davvero: Strange Indeed (Italian)

* Endlich: Finally (German)

*Lieber: Dear (German)

(Is there anything else I forgot to write/translate?)

Please Review!


	5. Light

Thunder: Wow, so long ago, I even forgot how I used to do my intro! Haha, oh well, I guess you people out there actually missed this story, I'm quite glad, that means it does have something nice to it. So thanks for all your previous and future reviews. If my writing style is bad then it's my fault, I haven't used the keyboard for a while, ^-^

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

**Light**

Yoh woke up the next morning feeling refreshed; breakfast was already ready and served when he reached the dining room. Everyone was happy and quite cheerful, seeing as one night passed quietly, but Yoh kept silent, kept thinking of that boy he met, Shiro. Who was he? And why was he helping him? Sure he seemed to be quite honest with him, but the mask…Yoh never liked masks, they reminded him of his father, and he doesn't know a thing about his father.

"Yoh, training." Anna said calmly as she handed him a piece of paper, bringing Yoh out of his thoughts. He took the paper and took a look at it, then his eyes widened in horror.

"Anna, why is the training doubled?" He asked as a waterfall of tears fell from both of his eyes.

"It's because you had a good rest yesterday. Don't tell me you're not up to it?" She asked in a weird way that confused Yoh for a few seconds but then he sighed and got up.

Before he reached the door he heard multiple loud groans and protests. He smiled to himself and giggled, at least he wasn't the only one getting hard training! He knew that was mean, but still fair. Then he quickly got out and decided to take the route that'd take him to the forest and then to the village. Maybe he could meet Shiro on his way. Filled with that idea he started his long run.

OOOO

"What do you think we should do amici?" Adrian asked his friends as they sat on the top of a tall tree that overlooked the entire woods. Adrian was standing on the highest branch, overlooking the scenery while Lazar sat cross legged on a branch to the left of Adrian and Miguel was standing on a branch a little bit lower than where Adrian stood, leaning on the tree's trunk while having his arms crossed over his chest.

"Na, follow Yoh of course!" Lazar suggested cheerfully.

"I want to see who that enmascarado boy was." Miguel protested.

"Hmm, I agree with both of you amici, but I am also very curioso about the mascherato boy, so I intuire _he_ would know something. We should ricerca for him." Adrain spoke in an oddly serious tone, Lazar and Miguel stared at him with a grave gaze, they know who _he_ is and they also know that no good ever comes from contacting him_._

"Und what is it that you want to fragen von _ihm_? I don't like how he feels." Lazar asked as he lifted his hand to slightly touch the mask that covered half of his face, a slight shiver washed over his body.

"Perche, Lazar, you don't see many people wearing maschere like that. And we know many people who wore maschere for the same reason, now don't we?" He said as he slightly touched his own mask. Lazar simply looked away, giving in to the truth.

"I agree with Lazar, it's never good to see o incluso talk about…" Miguel traced off to turn and look at a certain direction, the strong breeze that kept passing by loosened his scarf, so he adjusted it, his eyes glaring and never leaving a certain intruder in front of him. Lazar recognized the glare that Miguel would make only in certain occasions and swiftly stood up and turned around to face that person, Eye glaring and teeth and fists clenching. Adrian only turned his head very slightly, not changing his position; rather, he _knew_ that _he_ was coming eventually. His blue eyes bored into those of their visitor.

"Whom do I owe for this pleasure to meet you again…_Sora_?" Adrian spoke in a superior tone.

A teenage boy, wearing a black and white mask that represented the yin and yang symbol was crouched over the top of the tree next to the one Adrian and his teammates were sitting on. He wore a white loose T-shirt and dark black trousers, the legs were tight at the thighs then gradually loosened until they reached the ankles, where they were tightly tied with a thin piece of white string. His left arm was tattooed with some writings and symbols that looked similar to the symbols that covered team Artiglio's clothes, only they were black. His hair was long enough to barely reach his shoulders, the wind carrying it so that it'd splash over his mask.

"Oooh, you know I just love to surprise people!" Sora replied, tilting his head slightly to the left.

"What do you want from us jetzt?" Lazar spat out, fuming with anger.

"Why, can't I just check in on some of my dear friends every now and then?" Sora replied with a cheeky tone. Lazar clenched his teeth in anger.

"Alright, now down to business." Sora said, changing his tone entirely from the cheerful childish tone to a completely serious one. His dark brown eyes were glinting from behind his mask, showing a completely different personality.

"I've come to remind you of your duty. The organization doesn't like people who take everything to their own pace."

"We're not taking it slow neither are we going to do it fast, we always studiare our target before launching an attack." Adrian told him.

"Yes, you haven't failed us before. We also have a new job for you."

"What is it this tiempo?" Miguel asked.

"One of our members doesn't seem to be acting the way we please. Exterminate him or simply bring him to us, we'll know what to do." He chuckled darkly to himself at that part. Lazar only shivered more.

"And who is this socio?" Adrian asked.

"He's hard to describe, but we know that he lives somewhere in this forest and owns an extremely rare black sword. Enjoy your hunting party." He said and then stood up and turned to leave but stopped mid-way, turning his head towards them.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you the new order. It's okay to remove your masks in public now."

"In that case, why don't you show us your face?" Lazar retorted angrily. Sora's eyes suddenly changed from serious to cheerful.

"Oh but I don't feel like taking it off, you know, it's optional. Ta ta!" He said with a cheerful wave of goodbye and literally took a step into the air and let himself fall.

"Ooh! That guy always makes me wütend!" Lazar yelled as he turned to his companions.

"You should learn to resistir more." Miguel advised him.

"Leave him, Miguel. He's probably still scared." Adrian interjected.

"No I'm not!" Lazar yelled back at them.

"We wouldn't blame you if you are." Adrian told him.

"Sí" Miguel agreed and silence fell upon them.

OOOO

_Evening…and no sign of either Shiro or Team Artiglio…I wonder what's wrong…_Yoh thought to himself as he ran in the forest, it was already dark outside.

_Oh well, I can't expect them to greet me every evening._ He thought with a chuckle and continued running. Suddenly he thought he heard the sound of a sword cutting something. He stopped for a second, trying to listen to it again. There it was, just a little bit further ahead. Yoh padded quietly towards it to check what was going on.

Unknown to him, a dark figure was standing behind a tree trunk quite close to where Yoh was standing; his eyes were slightly opened, glinting dangerously as they watched Yoh as he retreated into the darkness of the forest. He had a long black sword held tightly in his hand, then a small demon spirit appeared. A small, orange-red fox with three tiny horns on its head and four tails, was sitting quietly next to its master's feet.

"Looks like we found our next victim, Yago." He told his little demon spirit and then slowly faded back into shadows.

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><p>Thunder: Okay, that wasn't so bad for a comeback….. I hope you enjoyed it.<p>

Amici: Friends (Italian)

Na: Well (German)

Enmascarado: Masked (Spanish)

Curioso: Curious (Italian)

Mascherato: Masked (Italian)

Intuire: Guess / Imagine (Italian) [I know I don't know anything about Italian, so if anyone out there knows, please tell me if Intuire works as Imagine in that statement, thank you!]

Ricerca: Search (Italian)

Und: And (German)

Fragen Von Ihm: Ask of him (German)

Perche: Because (Italian)

Maschere: Masks (Italian)

O Incluso: Or Even (Spanish)

Jetzt: Now (German)

Studiare: Study (Italian)

Tiempo: Time (Spanish)

Socio: Member/Partner/Associate

Wütend: Angry (German)

Resistir: Endure (Spanish)

Sí: Yes (Spanish)

**Please Review!**


	6. Plans, plans

Thunder: Okay, first, I'm terribly sorry about the previous Chapter 6, I know it was a complete failure and I wasn't happy about it at all, so this is another version of it, almost completely different and maybe shorter but I don't know. Hopefully you'll find it better this time. Oh and some of you complained about the use of foreign languages, I reduced that somewhat. And I don't think I can explain the rest of all of this, so please, Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

**Plans, plans…**

The next morning was nice and quiet, Anna said that his grandfather had called for her and now she's left the island. Ren and his team said they'd go and train near the beach, even though Yoh knew that Horo Horo or Choco would eventually drag them down to playing rather than training. On the other hand, Ryu proudly announced at breakfast that he'd go to the village today and get himself a date, he was then laughed at of course and they all took a bet. If Ryu didn't get a date, he'd do all of their chores once Anna gets back and vise versa. Yoh simply sat between his friends, laughing and smiling with them but having no particular conversation, his mind was far away, thinking about the recent events. The sound he had heard in the forest wasn't something to even consider looking for, yet it somehow dragged him all the way to an isolated cliff at the very end of the forest, and he set his mind to go and look over there again.

Everyone went out to do their plans and only Yoh and Faust were left to wash the dishes. The atmosphere surrounding them was peaceful but then Faust broke the silence.

"Is something wrong, Yoh?" Faust asked. Yoh snapped out of his thoughts and turned to stare at him.

"Nothing's wrong." Yoh answered with a confused expression on his face.

"You seem to be thinking of something?" Faust clarified and Yoh got the hint, expressing it with a silent 'o'.

"Well, you see I met this weird guy who was helping me and he's…really nice." Yoh said with a grin and Faust sighed.

"Yoh, didn't we say that that person doesn't actually exist?" Faust asked him and Yoh pouted.

"I know what I see, Faust." Yoh said a little annoyed.

"It's just that, we never saw someone with the description you gave us."

"Will you believe me if I brought him home?" Yoh asked with a sigh. Faust stood silent for a moment.

"Maybe?" He said with his whispery voice and shrugged with a light smile. Yoh smiled back, he liked talking to Faust. Yeah he was weird, but he had his good sides too.

"So what will you do today?" Yoh asked him after they finished cleaning the dishes. Faust shrugged.

"I guess I'll just stay with Eliza." He said softly and the ghost appeared beside him, smiling. Yoh just smiled at them.

"I'll be off then!" Yoh shouted as he opened the inn's door and went out. The weather was pretty windy today, and planning to go near a cliff didn't seem as encouraging as it used to be, but Yoh was determined and so he started running.

Reaching the place where he'd normally see team Artiglio having coffee or training together, he noticed that something was off. It was quiet, too quiet for them, so he decided to open the large metallic, gate-like door that was built into the huge stone.

Quietly stepping into what he thought was a cave, he was astonished to see the wide open space inside. No one would think that such a huge hall would greet you from behind a door placed in a rock. It was like a totally different world, the walls were covered with metal plates, shining a bright silver color as the white neon lights reflected on them. On the right wall stood many doors that led to god knows what. Yoh wasn't too excited about finding out either, he'd seen enough of the team's craziness and he wasn't too eager to see more of it.

On the far side on the hall were three throne-like chairs and three doors, each one standing out of the others. Yoh walked closer to examine them. The one on the chair's left, next to the wall was big, light blue and arched from the top, the door was made of two halves, just like the door at the hall, decorating it were five flower like stones, with spirals and shapes carved into them, two small ones at the top corners, two medium sized ones at the sides of the door and a big one that was placed in the high middle.

Yoh kept staring at the detailed carvings of the door knobs; he looked over at the two other doors and then realized that this is Adrian's room, since the other two doors simply wouldn't fit the prince. The other two doors were on the right side of the thrones, one of them was also arched but rather than a dome-like arch, it was pointed at the top, it was dyed brown and the nails were huge and their heads were round rather than flat. Yoh had a hard time searching for the door knob because it looked so much like the round headed nails, and as mysterious as this door looks, it simply had to be Miguel's, which only meant that the last one was Lazar's.

Yoh didn't know if he was expecting this or not, but it surely resembled Lazar. The door was also arched and was painted a dark yellow. The design was split in half, with the right half decorated with wavy lines, each area being a different hue of the dark color and the top area trespassed on the other half of the door, therefore being bigger than the other waves and instead of paint, there was a mirror. The other half of the door was covered with a mirror that looked like the door's outline, also arched from the top and it was right beneath the tail of the mirror at the top. It was weird and intriguing; Yoh wasn't sure why it attracted him so much. Lazar was the youngest and probably the craziest, but Yoh also felt another side hiding behind that half mask of his.

"Okay, now I'm imagining things…aren't I?" Yoh thought aloud to himself nervously as he thought he heard someone chuckling. The mirror didn't show anyone behind him, but he turned around anyway and found himself face to face with Lazar…except that Lazar was upside down.

"Hallo!" He called cheerfully and Yoh jumped back, hitting the door.

"L-Lazar!" Yoh stuttered. The boy jumped down the rope he was hanging on and landed gracefully on his feet.

"Na, Yoh! What are you doing here? Came to visit me?" Lazar asked playfully as he approached Yoh, who quickly slipped sideways trying to avoid him.

"I uh…I was just curious so…umm, where are the others anyway?" He stuttered, trying to slip away but then trailed off as he saw Lazar's happy smile change into a monotonous stare.

"They're out on some meeting." He said as he waved his hand dismissingly and turned to walk in the empty space of the hall.

"How come you're not with them?" Yoh asked a bit confused.

"Well, I simply hate the guy that they're meeting!" He said angrily as he turned around.

"Wh-who are they meeting and…why do you hate that person so much?" Yoh asked warily. Lazar stayed quiet for a minute and then smiled.

"You'll know when time comes." He said playfully with a wink as he placed his finger over his lips.

"Uh, okay, I'll just go then!" Yoh said nervously with a grin and dashed away.

"Yoh." Lazar called in an unusual tone that made Yoh stop in his tracks and look back. Lazar slowly turned around to look at him, his yellow eyes showing no particular emotion, cold and frozen.

"Come here." He ordered softly as he raised his hand towards Yoh. Yoh gulped and slowly moved towards him and a sense of satisfaction lighted Lazar's eyes, along with a small satisfied smile.

"You missed me, didn't you?" He exclaimed enthusiastically as he grabbed hold of Yoh's wrist. "I missed you too, lieber Yoh. Why don't we play?" Lazar said with his usual grin and his creepy eyes, eyes that looked so innocent and yet so cunning. And before Yoh could even protest, Lazar opened the door and dragged him into his room.

_Why am I not surprised? _Yoh asked himself as a waterfall of tears fell down from each eye.

OOOO

"So, Yoh, why won't you tell me something?" Lazar suggested after a whole hour of playing different kinds of weird _hurtful_ games with his _pets_. Lazar was sitting on a large, golden, dragon sized bird swing that was hanging from the far left corner of the room. Lazar's room was an odd one, there were white feathers scattered everywhere and the room inside was too bright, lights were scattered everywhere in the ceiling. Aside from the feathers there was grey fur scattered everywhere on the floor and Yoh was sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by two silver grey wolves, one which was pulling Yoh's hear and the other was softly biting his wrist.

"Tell you what?" Yoh asked as he tried to push the wolves away.

"What do you think of my collection?" Lazar asked proudly as he spread his arms, gesturing to all the lions, tigers, leopards, foxes, wolves and other animals aside from the bird's section. Lazar practically had a zoo in his room…his big, big room. Yoh looked around him, staring at all the animals that sat quietly in their places.

"They're…cute." He murmured to himself and watched as Lazar smiled mischievously.

"Would you like to join them?" He asked and hopped down from the swing.

"Join?" Yoh asked confused as he watched Lazar picking up a whip.

"Say, Yoh, do you know anyone with long, mahogany brown hair, who happens to look just like you?" He asked and the animals that were close by scattered away, knowing full well that now is _playtime_. Yoh gulped and braced himself.

OOOO

"You know, you lot never ceased to surpass my expectations. May it be from your outstanding powers to your nerve-breaking carelessness." Sora said as he leaned on a tree in the forest clearing.

"We're not careless." Adrian said offendedly. "Anyway, what is it that you want from us this time?"

"Saaay…why didn't the little one come over? I sure would have enjoyed his company." Sora said with a melodic tone, ignoring Adrian completely. The sense of a wide grin radiated from behind his mask.

"Sora." Miguel said impatiently, unlike his usual demeanor.

"Aww, you really have no sense of fuuuun. That little red head sure had lots of it though." Sora said as he jumped to sit on a branch. "Anyway, back to business. Here's the archive that holds all the information we have about the four new targets." He said as he threw the file in front of them. Miguel went and picked it up, paging through the archives inside it.

"Remind me why you actually want these ragazzi?" Adrian asked curiously.

"None of your business. Bye bye!" He said with a wave of his hand and disappeared a swirl of water.

"I hate it when he does that." Miguel commented quietly and Adrian chuckled.

"Well, no wonder our dear Lazar can't stand him, if even you get angry when he's around." He said as he slipped his arm around Miguel's shoulder and they started walking back.

OOOO

After scrambling his way out of Lazar's room, Artiglio's base and the forest, Yoh is now walking nervously in the crowded streets on the Patch village. He hoped not to meet anyone he knows because he really wasn't in the mood to stop for a chat.

"And why's that?" An amused voice inquired from behind the crowd. Yoh jerked as he started looking around him, realizing who the person is.

"What do you mean with_ you told them about me_?" He asked a bit more serious.

"Hao…" Yoh said as he spotted him sitting cross legged on a bench, the people around him were simply trying their best to not look at him and walk away as fast as they could.

"Well?" Hao demanded as he stood up and walked towards Yoh.

"Nothing." Yoh lied and Hao smirked.

"Does it have anything to do with that new rumor that's been going around lately? My reputation is on the line you know."

"Reputa-! Wait what rumor?" Yoh started out taken aback and then asked with a completely different tone that made Hao laugh.

"Sometimes I really wonder how you manage to live. The rumor's been going on for quite a while now, that you've befriended a guy who looks like me, no in fact, they think that it **is** me." He clarified as he crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for Yoh's response. Yoh simply stared at him.

"They say he wears a mask?" Hao tried again and Yoh seemed to react.

"Oh, you mean Shiro?" Yoh asked unsure.

"Shiro, huh…I think I might like to see this new friend of yours." Hao said as he closed his eyes and turned around to walk away. Yoh simply stood there and watched his brother as he started tapping into his oracle bell. Then he started walking the other way, a bit relieved and then again, more confused. _Now there is a new rumor going on about Shiro?_ That made Yoh worried even more and he wanted to check up on him as soon as he could. To his luck, Shiro just came running from around the corner. Yoh's face lit up as he saw his friend but then the smile faded as he saw the crowd that was running _after_ Shiro. Yoh stood paralyzed as the crowd moved forward like a wave, until Shiro grabbed him from the collar and dragged him along until they hid in a small alley and the crowd passed by. They both stood panting as they tried to catch their breath.

"What was that all about?" Yoh asked still panting.

"They…think that I'm some guy…called Hao." Shiro huffed out. "Isn't that supposed to be your brother?" He asked as he turned to look at Yoh who simply nodded.

"Well could you please tell them that I haven't seen that guy in my whole life? Because this has been going on for quite a while now and it's really not funny at all."

"They won't listen that easily, and I know some who wouldn't believe you no matter what you say." Yoh told him apologetically.

"I'm already wearing a mask, where else should I hide?" He complained.

"Maybe if you took it off-" Yoh tried but was cut off.

"No, I'm not taking the mask off no matter what!" He said stubbornly.

"Why?" Yoh asked curiously and Shiro stared at him for a while.

"…I don't know…I just…don't want to." He stuttered and looked away. "Anyway it doesn't matter. It's not like I'll be in the village everyday, I just come here to get some stuff to eat and that's all." He said as he scratched the back of his head thinking.

"Come on, I know a shortcut." He said and gestured for Yoh to follow him through the alleyway and onto the rooftops.

"You really love climbing things, don't you?" Yoh commented jokingly as Shiro helped him climb up the steep walls.

"Well it's fun, don't you think?" Was his cheerful response and they walked on until they reached the forest.

"So your house is in the forest?" Yoh asked and Shiro chuckled.

"Yeah, a small little old hut in the forest and it's hard to find too." He said proudly as he overlooked the many trees of the forest.

"Seems that you don't enjoy crowded places…" Yoh said slowly, trying to get somewhere. Shiro looked towards him and Yoh could see his eyes, hidden deep inside the shadows of his mask.

"I don't like people, Yoh. They only know how to hurt." He said calmly and Yoh noticed a flash of regret in his eyes. "Anyway! I wanted to show you something, come on!" He said suddenly, changing his tone and ran off. Yoh could only follow him with a huff.

Soon enough, near sunset, they finally arrived to the place Shiro told him about. Yoh stared at the scenery in awe. It was a cliff that oversees the lower forest of the island, the mountains were only a few kilometers away and the sun was already starting to set.

"This is where I come to practice my shows and relax." Shiro said proudly as he watched Yoh's expression.

"It's really beautiful…wait…did you just say shows?" Yoh exclaimed in surprise after a moment and Shiro laughed.

"Well, I'll show you some other day…because I guess she doesn't want to come out right now."

"Who's _she_?" Yoh asked and Shiro chuckled.

"It's a little secret." He said cheerfully. A few minutes passed by in silence as they watched the scenery, the sea was on the other side of the cliff, therefore the sound of the waves clashing could be heard too.

"Oh. Hey…wait a second…I've been here before…" Yoh suddenly realized that this was the same cliff he had ended up in last night.

"Hey, Shiro, does anyone know about this place other than you?" He asked hastily.

"Not as far as I know. Why?" Shiro replied confused. Yoh stared at him for a while.

"I just thought I saw someone else here yesterday." Shiro didn't say anything, just shrugged his shoulders.

OOOO

Late at night, in the far distance, a young girl was watching from behind the trees, watching a certain shadowed person hiding just a bit farther away, a small fox perched on the person's shoulder. An amused smile crept up her lips.

"It's starting again." She said with a chuckle and then disappeared into thin air.

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><p>Thunder: Okaaay, now I know this turned out COMPLETELY different from the first version of this chapter but I hope it was worth all the change. Truthfully, when I wrote the previous one I was really just rushing things so I hope this one's better.<p>

Hallo: Hello (German…although it's used in English too :P)

Ragazzi: Guys (Italian)

**ATTENTION PLEASE:** I know the whip might lead most of you to think of something else but believe me, **NO ONE** got hurt in this chapter! No animal and not Yoh, the whip is for another thing…you'll find out soon enough.

Please Review!


	7. Invitations

Thunder: Well, let's hope this will be good enough…but I think it became too long… so what I did is shorten it, well…enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

**Invitations**

It was just another nice and warm night in the forest, sitting against a tree trunk in front of the small camp fire with Shiro sitting across to him simply felt relaxing. After all, team Artiglio haven't showed themselves since the last time he encountered them and that was weeks ago.

Shiro leaned forwards and moved the burning bunch of small logs with another dry twig; it was silent, nothing but the sound of the dancing fire as it crackled and the soft music of nocturnal animals and insects, a peaceful night. The two of them sat like that for quite a while, chatting every now and then about daily stuff.

"Say, Shiro…how about you come over to our place this weekend, you have nothing else to do, right?" Yoh asked with his hands resting behind his back, looking at Shiro. The boy merely stared at the fire silently for a while and Yoh felt him thinking about it quite seriously from the glints that he could see through the eye slits of his mask thanks to the fire.

"I don't know, Yoh. I don't think…" He tried to make an excuse but Yoh cut him.

"Come on, you'll like my friends and it's about time that they meet you too. Why do you always refuse to meet anyone other than me?" Yoh asked curiously with his eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't think meeting anyone other than you is a good idea, there's always trouble wherever I go and sometimes I start…" He said and then slowly his volume decreased until he was just muttering to himself, progressively hugging his knees closer and closer to himself and then falling silent, his eyes never leaving the fire's flames. Yoh simply stared at him, trying to think of a way to convince his friend.

"You know my friends are just like me, they'll like you." Yoh tried again but Shiro kept silent, as if pondering over something.

"Please?" Yoh asked with a polite tone and Shiro sighed exasperatedly.

"Fine, I'll come and meet your friends." He mumbled. "But if something goes wrong then it's not my fault, okay?" He said as he raised both of his hands.

"Of course, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?" Yoh asked a bit confused.

"How should I know…?" He whispered to himself as he stood up to leave.

"So, tomorrow afternoon would be good?" Yoh asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I guess. Goodnight." He said and then walked away. Yoh simply stared at his retreating back.

OOOO

"I never thought I'd say this but, Ren is right, I don't think that masked dude of yours is going come today." Horo Horo said as he pushed another spoonful of his lunch into his mouth as they all sat on an outdoor table in front of the restaurant.

"Yeah, Yoh, we've been here many times and I've never seen a guy with your description." Manta said.

"Too bad, I really wanted to see him." Choco said, sounding a bit gloomy.

"I'm sure he'll come, besides, he won't be coming until afternoon." Yoh mumbled silently.

"Does he even know where the house is, Yoh-donno?" Amidamaru asked and Yoh simply stared into the open space in front of him.

"M-maybe?" He replied slowly.

"Hey, Yoh!" Someone yelled from the crowd and Yoh turned around to see who it was. The village was exceptionally crowded today, to the point that you can't walk around without brushing against someone's shoulder. The recent rumors that have been going around the place were most probably the reason for that, but what the rumors were, Yoh still had no clue.

From the crowd he saw three people emerge, a tall man with short black hair, wearing a very loose light blue shirt and loose beige pants. The other was also tall with brown hair and he was wearing an orange shirt with dark brown pants. The youngest of the three, who seemed somehow familiar, had red hair, wearing a light red, half sleeved collar shirt and blue jeans. Most importantly, they all seemed to have a scar on their faces.

"Do you know these guys, Yoh?" Horo Horo whispered in Yoh's ear as the three approached with happy grins.

"I don't think so…" Yoh replied, slowly shaking his head.

"Hi" The black haired guy said cheerfully with a warm smile. Yoh smiled and waved his hand awkwardly. The three of them stood in front of Yoh, a few minutes passed by…Yoh's friend's sweat dropped.

"What's wrong, Yoh? Couldn't you recognize us?" The guy with black hair asked with a smug look and the Italian accent hit Yoh like a brick in the head.

"ARTIGLIO!" He yelled out, instinctively jumping backwards, startling everyone else while the three team members simply giggled in amusement.

"What's up?" Miguel asked cheerfully with a bright expression on his face that Yoh had never seen before.

"Na, hallo! How could you not recognize me, Yoh?" Lazar asked with a look of disappointment on his face. Yoh simply put his hands in front of him in an effort of calming the boy down as he sweat dropped with a nervous giggle.

A few moments later…

"How come you're not wearing your masks?" Yoh asked after that they had all sat down on an even bigger table and all of them had ordered a cup of coffee.

"Well, we finally got the permission to. So we decided to come out here and try how it feels like and man! I don't even know how to describe it!" Adrian explained excitedly, his Italian accent annoying Ryo for some surprising reason.

"Ja, we can actually act more like ourselves now." Lazar added.

"You guys need permission to take off a mask?" Horo asked curiously but Miguel put his finger on his lips, telling him that they won't answer that question.

"May I ask how you all happen to have the same scar?" Ren asked nonchalantly after a few silent minutes. Everybody except team Artiglio whipped their heads and glared at Ren, the silent _REN!_ was clear on everybody's face, but Ren simply shrugged them off.

"It's alright." Lazar said with a shrug.

"It represents us after all." Miguel started.

"You see, all three of us in team Artiglio own dragons and Artiglio itself means Talon. Each of us got this scar from our own dragon on a…certain day…in a certain _unpleasant, _event…" Adrian trailed off and glanced at Lazar, just in case, the boy was clearly biting his lip but Adrian ignored that and continued. "…Yeah that's just about it!" He said cheerfully while wearing a clear fake smile. The gang stared at him for a moment, not entirely believing his story but kept silent anyway.

"It doesn't make sense that your own dragon attacked you, it simply defies nature." Ren asked, still insistent on knowing more.

"Ren…" Yoh whispered but was met with a determined look from the yellow eyed boy.

"Well maybe because this event we were in wasn't _**natural**_ at all." Lazar seethed through gritted teeth and then Adrian suddenly started laughing.

"Okay now, don't push it, Lazar." He said while patting and ruffling the younger's hair. Yoh was expecting Lazar to blow up in any second but to his surprise, the boy remained silent.

"So that's why you guys wear masks?" Yoh asked curiously since he had never seen the scar before, but Adrian shook his head.

"We don't really mind the scars." Miguel stated.

"We wear the masks for another reason." Adrian said.

"Which would be?" Horo Horo asked.

"None of your business." Lazar replied nonchalantly.

"I've never seen you guys in town in the first part of the tournament." Ryo asked suddenly.

"Ah, yes…you'll find out soon enough." Adrian said mysteriously.

"We should go." Miguel stated as he looked at his watch and the other two got up instantly.

"Going so soon?" Yoh asked politely and Adrian smiled.

"We have an appointment with someone today and if I may offer you any type of advice, stay away from our place as long as you can. Don't take it the wrong way, Yoh, but most likely, the next order will be to hunt you down...maybe. Bye-bye!" Adrian said and waved with a smile as he walked away, leaving behind a very stunned Yoh.

"They own dragons…" Choco said out of nowhere, his mouth open in awe.

"I'm going to die?" Yoh said silently, staring into the wall with a horrified expression.

"Oh give me a break." Red said with an annoyed tone, giving the boy a smack on the head.

"I see you're having fun, eh, Ren?" A certain person's voice said from the table next to theirs. Everyone knew who it was and turned to face him with an annoyed expression.

"What do you want, Hao?" Ren retorted angrily. Yoh stayed silent, not knowing what to say for now. Hao was sitting just in front of them, sipping from his cup of tea while surrounded by the rest of his remaining followers, Opacho, Luchist, the Hana-gumi girls and Turbine.

"Nothing, I'm just having fun listening in on your conversations." Hao said with an amused, smug smile. Ren simply balled his fists in anger but Yoh held him down.

"Hao if you need to say anything then just say it." He said it in a way that made it feel like he was tired of Hao's taunts, which wasn't too far away from the truth. Hao eyed him with a brief smile and then turned to sip from his tea.

"You're going to miss that friend of yours if you keep wasting time here." Hao said nonchalantly then turned to his followers, dismissing Yoh and his gang. Yoh's shoulders slumped but Hao was right, they had to go soon. There was this thing though, Yoh felt as if he had wanted to say something to Hao but he had completely forgotten what it was. Giving up on remembering, he got up and the gang followed.

OOOO

"Heeeello and good afternoon." Sora greeted the trio with a melodious tone.

"What do you want this time, Sora? But per favore make it quick." Adrian said.

"Oh, now, let me at least greet my little close friend." He said and suddenly appeared next to Lazar, ruffling his hair violently. Lazar freaked out and started thrashing about, shouting and cursing in his mother language until Sora let him go.

"Aww, I thought you'd at least miss me a little." Sora said in a disappointed, child-like tone.

"It seems you're in your prime today, Sora." Miguel pointed out and Sora nodded vigorously.

"The spirit that the organization's been after, Lugia, has been located. Actually I've located its current shaman only and he'll be arriving at any time at the younger twin's house! If the shaman is there then his spirit should be there too!" Sora announced excitedly, nearly jumping. The trio were baffled for a moment but then Sora broke their trance.

"Let's not waste time, it'll be interesting!" He said with a melodious tone in the end and then disappeared in a tiny cloud of mist.

"Unfortunately…I can't deny what he just said. This **will** be interesting." Lazar said with a maniac smile plastered on his face and rode on Asche then quickly flew over the valley they had just come through, the other two exchanged amused glances and followed suit.

OOOO

The small breeze was slowly taking more strength, turning from a simple breeze to a strong gust of wind and finally to a storm. But how will the events unravel in that sequence, not even Hao knows what the close future has in store for them all. He just sat on the cliff and watched the soft wind play with the ocean's waves.

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><p>Thunder: I'm glad I finished this; I hope it was good enough.<p>

Ja: Yes (German)

Per Favore: Please (Italian)

Please Review!


	8. Lonely Darkness

**Thunder:** After such a long time, I'm glad to say that I woke up this morning with a grand idea (or at least in my opinion) on how to finally continue this story. I love this story, I really feel it's more of an original story that I've shoved Shaman Kings into, so it's very dear to me, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you for your patience.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

**Lonely Darkness**

It was late in the evening when Manta finally sighed and closed the book that he was reading. He walked over to the front porch, leaving the others to mind their own business while he searched for Yoh.

He finally found him sitting cross-legged on the soft earth in front of the inn, where grass couldn't get the time to grow properly before people came and stepped on it. He sighed again and went to sit next to him.

The night was very serene. The sky was clear, allowing the stars to dot the heavens and illuminate the darkness of their surroundings. There were a few fireflies roaming around. One could hear a hoot of an owl every once in a while, sometimes even a tiny bat would fly by. Manta turned to stare up at Yoh, who had his face trained on the forest in front of them. The occasional breeze was the only thing that caused any sort of movement from the teen.

It finally reached midnight and Yoh was still sitting in the same spot, in the same position. Manta was yawning and dozing off beside him. Yoh smiled at his friend and sighed, he gave him a weak nudge to wake him up and then ushered him inside. Manta simply mumbled some gibberish, nodded and staggered towards the door.

Yoh watched him go inside and then stood up with a sigh and stretched. He turned to the woods and stared at it for a moment, then he finally decided to march into it. But first things first, he went inside and took Harusame with him, Amidamaru curiously floating behind his master in his hitodama mode.

The woods were covered with the evening dew, the scent of pine and other trees filled the night air, refreshing his senses. He wandered around aimlessly, reaching the area where he and Shiro always lounged around. The place was empty, deserted even, save for the old set of dry firewood that was still in place.

He walked further into the woods, until he could smell the salty sea air. He was near that cliff again, but this time he wasn't alone. There was a tune being hummed, words quiet and soft, whispers that were almost mesmerizing.

He walked slower, quieter, trying to listen and understand the words. He barely had a glimpse of the person when an all-too-familiar giant, red hand grabbed and yanked him all the way till he was hovering beyond the cliff's edge, sure death awaiting him if the giant let go of him. So, no _"let go of me"_ demands, he noted in his mind.

Yoh blinked the sudden dizziness away and looked down at none other than his brother, Hao Asakura. The usual calm smile was plastered on his face, but his eyes…Yoh froze when he saw his eyes. They suddenly spoke centuries of anger and hatred, rather than his usual all knowing, impassive look.

Yoh held his breath as he couldn't break eye contact with Hao. The older was visibly fuming, and Yoh could see his lips moving, he was muttering then. His eyes were on fire. Hao finally closed his eyes and took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. Yoh felt the pressure of Spirit Of Fire's grip loosen around him. He was slowly being lowered down too, though he was still far away from touching the ground.

"What are you doing here?" Hao asked, irritation barely hidden behind his words. Yoh felt his mouth go dry. He searched his mind for the answer that he _should_ know. He knew that the older had probably read his mind and found the answer before him, but he was still waiting, rather impatiently, for a voiced answer.

"I…was searching for a friend." He replied monotonously. The ring of resemblance to Hao didn't go unnoticed to him.

"At midnight?" Hao inquired with a raised eyebrow. He seemed amused now, there was no trace of the earlier anger on his face. There was even a slight smile trying to make itself known. Yoh pouted at that.

"What's so funny?" He demanded, sounding like a small child, even to his own ears. Hao scoffed and then shook his head. His hair covered his eyes then, but the small smile on his face was what caught Yoh's eyes, it seemed sad.

"And why are you searching for someone at midnight, Yoh?" He asked again as he looked up, now a smirk formed on his lips and his eyes seemed to hold a mixture of emotions that Yoh couldn't name.

"I…just wanted to make sure that he was okay." He replied honestly.

"Don't you have enough friends to be satisfied?" Hao asked after a moment of silence. The question caught Yoh off guard. He blinked.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Hao sighed heavily and then slowly lowered Yoh to the ground, then turned around to leave. He paused midway through a step to spare Yoh one last glance.

"Greedy children can never be satisfied." Then he continued walking away. "Or was it the lonely ones?" he wondered to himself, but loud enough for Yoh to hear.

Yoh just stood there and helplessly watched the retreating back of his brother, pondering over the meaning of his words.

OOOO

Yoh found out that the cliff was a considerable distance away from the inn, and he didn't feel like running at all. He kept walking, mind too occupied by his brother to notice the many eyes that were following his passing form.

OOOO

How does he manage to stay one hair's length away from our area?" Lazar whispered harshly through gritted teeth.

"I really have no idea…" Adrian muttered.

OOOO

"He's in our hunting territory again, Yago." The dark shadow said to the glowing fox on his shoulder. "His tickets have expired. The next time, we go for the kill." The little fox gave a quiet bark as a response.

OOOO

Yoh finally reached the outskirts of the forest. He walked a few more steps forward into the clearing in front of the inn but then abruptly stopped. He turned around and stared intently at the dark and almost empty, even lifeless, forest. He could feel a presence there, but he closed his eyes and shrugged, then turned to walk back inside.

OOOO

Shiro watched Yoh's retreating form until he entered the inn.

"I'm sorry, Yoh." He whispered sadly. Slowly, he took off his mask and let down his hair that quickly came down to cover his face again. He let out a long, deep sigh and leaned back on the tree trunk, making himself comfortable on the high branch he was nestled on.

"So sorry." He whispered before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, hidden in the dark shadows of the night.

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><p>Thunder: Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! And I apologize if it's not what you expected, I had severe writer's block and this is what came out, sooo...<p>

Please Review!


	9. Acrobats and Princesses?

Thunder: I managed to write this chapter while I was at summer school, I hope you like it. I think it seems rushed but…by now I think that's better than nothing. It was supposed to be longer, but I cut it off to save it for chapter 10...

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

**Acrobats and Princesses?**

"Time to set the plan in mo~tion~" Sora announced over Adrian's sleeping form.

"Sora…get off of me." Adrian groaned as he hugged his pillow.

"Oh, come on you lazy head! Today's the day, I can feel it!" Sora exclaimed as he bounced around on Adrian's big bed, causing the older to groan as he bounced along with each of Sora's steps.

"How did you even get in here?" Adrian asked halfheartedly as Sora dodged his flying pillow.

"I've got my ways." The younger replied and Adrian managed to catch the wink sent from the small eye slit in the boy's mask. Adrian contemplated the word _'weird'_ for a moment but decided that it wouldn't compliment the boy at all.

"Will you wake up the others now, or should I do the honors?" Sora asked as he back-flipped off of the bed towards the door. Adrian simply groaned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He seemed to take a minute to think before he shook his head and got up.

"Nah, it's not worth seeing Lazar break my wall…again." He finally replied as he walked out of the room, Sora in tow.

"Then I'll go wake Miguel~" Sora sand as he practically skipped towards the other's room. Adrian simply shook his head and knocked on Lazar's door.

"Goten Morgen!" Lazar exclaimed as he burst out of his room and tackled Adrian. _This is going to be a long day…_ Adrian inwardly sighed as Lazar kept talking gibberish as he sat on top of him.

"What is HE doing here?!" the red head pointed an accusing finger at a strolling Sora, who suddenly stopped in his tracks and gasped.

"My sweet little V-Clown! Oh, I've missed you so much!" Sora cooed as he forcefully cuddled Lazar, completely oblivious to the younger's string of multilingual curses and protests.

"Let. Me. Go!" Lazar kept trying to pull himself out of the powerful vice grip but to no avail. As for the two adults…

"Sora, please let him go." Miguel whispered from ten feet away, as if the couple would magically hear him over their own racket and obey. Adrian simply face palmed. _Today is going to be a long day indeed._

OOOO

"Yoh- Sama~!" was the only warning that Yoh got before he was knocked over by none other than a five year old kid with a huge afro.

"Eh, what is it Opacho?" he asked the young girl as he gently picked her off of him and placed her on the ground, glancing at all the grocery that spilled out of the bags he was carrying.

"Have you seen Hao-sama?" the little girl asked, worry lacing her words. Yoh blinked and paused mid-way in picking up an apple.

"Umm, yeah. I saw him just yesterday." He replied as he gathered more of the fallen fruit.

"Where?!" Opacho asked hopefully but Luchist cut him off before he could even answer.

"Opacho, don't run away like that again." The black clad man scolded but the child was unfazed.

"Yoh-sama said that he saw Hao-sama!" She exclaimed. Luchist instantly turned to face Yoh.

"Is that true, Yoh-sama? Where? When?" he fired the questions and Yoh could only blink in confusion as he picked up the last orange and stood up.

"Um, near the cliff, last night. Is everything okay?" he asked. Now that he thought about it, Hao _was_ acting kind of weird that time. The tall man seemed to consider telling him or not.

"He's been missing for a while now. He never comes back to the inn and…frankly we're worried." He blurted and Yoh could only blink in utter confusion. Sure, Hao liked to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, but it wasn't like him to keep his base team in the dark like now.

"Thank you, Yoh-sama." Luchist said with a bow and promptly left, Opacho following behind him.

Yoh watched the two of them for a moment but then heard a thud from behind. He turned around and came face to face with a black and white mask. He stood, paralyzed by unwavering brown-red eyes.

"Boo!" The masked boy shouted all of a sudden and his arms made to grab him, but Yoh stepped back just in time. The boy lost his balance and then promptly fell. Yoh, not knowing what to make of the situation, simply stared in awe.

The boy moved a moment after he fell and was now standing on his hands with his legs folded as if he was sitting crisscrossed on air. The wonder boy then tilted his head to the side.

"You **do** look alike." He said out of nowhere and then extended one hand towards him, somehow balancing his entire weight on his right arm.

"The name's Sora, the self-proclaimed super ninja from Aira, Kagoshima, Japan. It's nice to finally meet you, Yoh."

Yoh blinked in amazement once and confusion twice. How did he know his name? Nevertheless, he didn't want to exhaust the self-proclaimed ninja's abilities, so he took his hand, as awkward as it felt, seemed and looked, and shook it.

His surroundings turned into a sudden blur before he hit the ground. Did that guy just flip him over?! He held his head as he tried to shake the dizziness away. He looked up to see the boy standing upright, just in time to catch the maniac gleam in those brown-red eyes and he couldn't help but feel grateful for the '_serene_' mask that is surely hiding a mad grin. _And he thought Lazar was crazy._

"Oh, guuuyyys~" Sora called as he clasped his hands behind his back, balancing on one leg. "I found him." He said in a much heavier and darker tone, almost like a predator, and his eyes gleamed like one too.

A Theory suddenly jumped into Yoh's mind, despite his great efforts at trying to concentrate at the three, scary, huge dragons that suddenly jumped out of nowhere and were now making a dive towards him, he couldn't help but note that Sora's black and white mask resembled the yin and yang symbol…and then he ran for it.

"Of course! Now that makes sense! Yin and yang! Nice sounding little acrobat and a crazy dark sadist! No wonder he chose that mask." Yoh half muttered, half shouted as waterfall tears fell from his eyes.

"Anna's going to kill me if she finds out that some _self-proclaimed __**ninja**_ managed to catch me off guard." He added as an afterthought. The flaps of dragon wings became increasingly, and dangerously close, but he risked a glance back anyway.

Yup, three mighty dragons with razor sharp teeth and talons were definitely gaining on him, if he doesn't move fast…

"Where's Amidamaru when you need him?" he muttered to himself as he took a sharp turn to the left, using one of the many tree trunks to swing himself around and gain momentum. Dragons that big cannot land in such a dense forest unless they could magically shrink themselves, and Yoh took a wild guess that they could.

He needed to lose them then, and fast. He was not going to let that circus freak turn him into a wolf and make him juggle bowling pins while balancing on a ball and jumping through a flaming hoop at the same time. He made a beeline through the woods, going into an area that he'd never ventured in before. Probably not one of his brightest ideas…

The vegetation there was very thick, there were no paths, everything seemed untouched by human hands. He ran, tripped, tumbled around, got cut by some branches, fell again, and finally took cover under a bush and waited. And waited…and waited.

Silence…not even a bird chirping or an animal scurrying, not even the comical cricket that chirps in such tense situations. Just plain, menacing silence. He shifted uncomfortably in his position when three shuriken wedged themselves near his head, too close for comfort, and he was lucky that he was too out of breath to even yelp.

"I know you're there, I heard you move." Sora's voice announced from far away, and Yoh could hear the shuffling of feet through tall grass and dried leaves and twigs. Yoh remained stone still.

"Listen up, nobody in their right mind would enter this area willingly. Just come on out so we can both get out of here before something happens." Yoh gulped and found no hesitation in believing the kid's words. Even Artiglio with their huge dragons didn't follow him in here.

"Of all the fragments of '_him_', you're my least favorite." Said the voice of a young girl. _What was a girl doing out here deep in the woods?!_

"Lugia." He heard Sora snarl. Yoh jumped at the sight of mad eyes behind the mask._ They even seem to have become a deeper red than before…_ He didn't sound so close moments ago!

"Well~" Sora's sing-song voice took over again. "Fancy meeting you here, princess. Is this your normal haunt?"

"Hmph, and what's it to you?" She asked half interested and suddenly Yoh felt her eyes on him. They were a clear ocean blue, her hair was silver colored and reached above her shoulders, and she couldn't have been any older than seven, but of course, her eyes told a whole different story.

"So, Sora, why did you come to my…partner's area? You know it's off limits to outsiders." She said with an imperious aura surrounding her.

"Oh, but princess, I am no outsider here. I'm merely the least welcome." Yoh risked a slight movement and it managed to go unnoticed. Good. This Lugia girl was distracting him well.

"Then I believe that you've outstayed your welcome, Sora. Leave at once, or else…" she trailed off and a deafening howl of wind passed by them without warning. Yoh took the opportunity and darted away as fast as he could, covering his ears when the howling turned into shrieking.

It only took him a few moments before he burst out of the dense section. He risked a quick glance to scope the area. He spotted team Artiglio and their dragons. They were in complete disarray.

The dragons' necks were twisting and coiling due to the high pitch wind, their own roars of displeasure were hard on the ears as well. He didn't even let the thought of helping them cross his mind as he darted away. Sure, they needed help but no one was out to kill them, unlike his own situation, plus, he was sure that they could handle themselves just fine.

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><p>Thunder: I wanted to end this chapter with a sort of cliff hanger feel but, hey, the events are still rolling even at the end of this chapter. The next one will be coming up soon, I already have two pages written from it, since I actually cut them from this chapter….aaaanyway, I do hope that this chapter wasn't a complete failure but…as far as I'm concerned…I think I like it…so, yeah!<p>

Please Review!


	10. Plumeria

Thunder: Chapter 10! Woohoo! I finally hit the two digits! Anyway, I hope it'll be satisfying to everyone.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by **willow of fire**'s story **Yoh's Guardian**, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

**Plumeria**

**A Princess Without A Prince**

"Lugia, what the hell's up with this entire racket?!" Shiro shouted above the shrieking wind as he suddenly found himself in the midst of the thick forest. Lugia studied him for a moment before she allowed the wind to settle down a notch.

"Lugia, stop this wind, what's wrong? Did someone trespass?" Shiro asked as he rose from his knees, but kept a hold of his throbbing head.

"So it's master's fragment now, huh?" Lugia muttered to herself as she closed her eyes and took a breath, even though she was a ghost…old habits die hard, she supposed.

"Fragment? Now? What are you talking about? How…?" He started asking but then Lugia cut him off.

"Forgive me master for interrupting you, but you probably want to go to the cabin and prepare? I believe it was your friend Yoh who trespassed." She said as she knelt in front of him. Shiro paused and his eyes gleamed with a kind smile as he patted her head.

"M-master?" she looked up with a blush on her young face. Shiro only chuckled.

"I told you many times, just call me Shiro. Come on; tell me what happened while we walk back."

"As you wish…Shiro." Lugia replied faintly as she floated after her master.

OOOO

"Lugia…from what you're telling me, Yoh simply couldn't have run into here all alone, right?" Shiro stated as he opened the small cottage's door. He glanced back at Lugia when he didn't hear a reply.

"Well?" he prompted and the girl simply looked away with a pout.

"It was that idiot acrobat, Sora." She muttered and Shiro laughed. Lugia simply glared at him and crossed her arms.

"Haha, sorry, sorry, Lugia…I didn't mean to. You just look so cute when you're angry. Especially when it's about Sora." He said as he caught his breath. "Sigh…I can't blame you though, I don't like him either…he scares me actually." He said after a moment and Lugia giggled, hiding her smile behind her silver kimono's long sleeve.

"Anyway, based on what happened today…" he said and then trailed off, going towards his bedroom, his eyes distant and calculating. Lugia followed and watched him as he fumbled with a small, ancient engraved chest. Shiro paused in whatever he was doing and watched the young girl. She heard him give a quiet sigh before he chuckled.

"Wait for me outside Lugia. Try locating Yoh's whereabouts, I have to check up on him after today's events." He said. Lugia only nodded and floated away. She already knew what her master was doing, with or without his permission, she'd take a peek every once in a while. The facts…were always scary, in her opinion.

OOOO

Yoh stopped to catch his breath the moment he reached the inn's backyard. Ren was sparring with Horo Horo as usual while Faust was sitting outside in his wheelchair, reading a book. The three of them turned and stared at Yoh's loud entrance.

"What sort of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?" Ren asked as he adjusted his Kwan Dao.

"Dragons…and acrobats…are after me…" he managed between intakes of breath. Ren only scoffed.

"What happened? Did the freak clown turn into an acrobat too?" he mocked and Horo snickered but then caught himself short.

"Hey, that freak really is scary!" He stated and Ren rolled his eyes.

"No, the acrobat is some new guy called Sora, and if you ask me, Lazar would seem like an innocent child compared to him." Yoh replied gravely as he walked closer. Horo Horo gulped while Ren seemed curious.

"Yup, he's a creepy one alright." Someone said as they walked out of the woods.

"Shiro?!" Yoh was quite honestly surprised and relieved. The masked boy laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry about being late?" He tried and Yoh exploded.

"You're late by twenty four hours!" Yoh accused.

"I know…" Shiro muttered and silence surrounded them for a while before they both ended up laughing. Ren sighed in exasperation, as if one Yoh wasn't enough.

"So, you're this enigmatic Shiro, huh?" Ren stepped up with an all too familiar smirk.

"I guess I am, and who might you be?" he asked as he walked up closer.

"I'm Tao Ren. What would you say to a small spar, just the four of us?"

"Ren! You don't go and spar with people you've never met before!" Horo said but then looked back at Shiro. "Well, I'm in anyway."

"Sorry guys, maybe next time?" Shiro said apologetically.

"I insist." Ren pressed on, holding up his Kwan Dao.

"I don't think it's such a bad idea Shiro, unless you really can't" Yoh added, sounding a bit hopeful despite the fact that he was chased the entire morning.

"Well…" he started but then sighed in defeat. "Fine. You're not going to let me out of this even if I tried, but don't you think I should at least know your names? I haven't even seen Yoh's guardian spirit yet."

"Ah, right! I'll go get Amidamaru and Harusame right away!" Yoh said as he ran inside.

When he came back, he was just in time to see Shiro introducing his own guardian spirit. She was a young girl with short silver hair and blue eyes, wearing a long kimono that lightly brushed the ground behind her.

"You! You're that Lugia girl!" Yoh exclaimed as he pointed a finger at the girl. Shiro blinked at Yoh and then back at Lugia. _What sort of impression did she leave behind this time I wonder?_ Shiro sighed inwardly as he saw the exchange.

"How rude! It's princess Lugia to the likes of you." She said with a calm and superior manner. Shiro sighed. _I give up._

"Lugia, be nice." He reprimanded. The little girl simply 'humphed', crossed her arms and pouted, trying to glare daggers at the grass with the best glare she could muster. Shiro chuckled.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Lugia. She's a seven year old princess that lived one thousand years ago." He introduced and everyone in the yard went stiff.

"One thousand years ago?" Horo repeated cautiously.

"You've got a problem with that? What? Have you never seen a thousand year old spirit before?" Lugia snapped but Shiro placed his hand over her head before she could go on a free rampage. Sure, she was a ghost, but somewhere in that thousand year old brain of hers she still finds it in herself to act like a spoiled five year old that has no abilities of simply walking through something. It helped actually.

"You're afraid of me aren't you? Well, you should! Are you sure you want to go up against me? You would never survive my powers! Hah!" She retorted with a wide confident smirk on her round young face.

"Wha?! Me? Afraid of you?! You're just some skinny little spoiled princess! No way I'm gonna lose to you!" Horo exclaimed energetically.

"Lugia, what have we said about modesty?" Shiro asked her in a reprimanding tone.

"Hey, you have your own issues with modesty mister high and mighty spells!" She snapped back at him and Shiro snorted and shook his head in defeat.

"Have you ever heard of a certain Hao Asakura that lived a thousand years ago?" Ren asked, going straight to the point, not missing a beat.

"Hmph, that stupid, selfish, big headed, arrogant brat? No, never heard of him." She said as she looked away, eyes closed and face determined.

"You're blushing." Shiro said cheerfully and she lost all of her composure.

"N-no I'm not!" She flailed her arms and then covered her face.

"Wait, so you knew him Lugia?" Yoh asked eagerly. Lugia slowly lowered the sleeve covered hands from her face and nodded slightly.

"Well, not exactly, I used to see him a lot because of my family's position and um…yeah I just used to see him a lot from far away." She said, half stuttering on a few words and avoiding any means of eye contact. She was fidgeting as well. _She's not telling us everything…and she's lying about the family thing, her voice wavered there._

"How come you've never told me any of that, Lugia? Even though I've asked you about Hao Asakura multiple times before." Shiro asked her, hands crossed over his chest, and a look in his eyes that simply said 'why?'

"Wah?…well, I, um…" she stuttered and then fumbled over words, her fingers fumbling beneath her sleeves for sure, but she remained silent.

"It's okay Lugia, we can talk about this later." Shiro sighed.

"I want to talk about it now." Ren stated in a manner that made it sound like a demand. Shiro looked towards him, studying him.

"Ren…" Yoh trailed off, hoping that his friend would let the matter go, even if just for a moment.

"She has the freedom to do whatever she wants; I'm not going to force her to say anything." Shiro stated and Ren simply scoffed.

"And where did you come from anyway?" Ren asked. It took a moment but Shiro soon spoke.

"I forgot." Was his reluctant and quiet reply.

"You forgot where you came from…" Ren dead panned

"I've been moved around a lot as a child. I don't belong anywhere and at the same time I belong everywhere. Anyway, let's get this over with shall we?" Shiro said as he pulled out a small necklace from around his neck. The pendant was shaped like a flower.

"I love this flower, its name is Plumeria, but it's more commonly known as Frangipani. It's quite an exotic flower, I'd recommend you to read about its place and meaning in cultures after this. It can even bloom in winter and it's most fragrant at night. It's a very sensitive plant too. If you don't balance the amount of water and sun it gets, it would either rot or die. Hawaiian people gave it the name Melia, which is the name of my oversoul. Though, now it is naturalized in south and Southeast Asia."

"What I remember from my childhood, is that my many parents would tell me of the old folk beliefs, that the Plumeria provides shelter to ghosts and demons, and is often always associated with the dead and planted in graveyards. Each culture has a different belief about it, just like me, I am an unknown traveler with no background. The Frangipani has three qualities, color, beauty, and fragrance, but the only thing it lacks is that honey-bees never sit on it. It's a princess with no prince, and more importantly, Lugia's death place, when I found her, was a Plumeria tree."

"I didn't come here for a lecture about a flower." Ren said as he drew his Kwan Dao.

"But I have to admit, it's pretty interesting if you think about it." Horo Horo stated as he readied his oversoul*.

"I think it suits the both of you very well." Yoh said with a smile as he materialized his own oversoul*. Faust sat in his wheel chair, watching Shiro intently. Of course he'd be anticipating the shaman's oversoul, after all that talk about Plumeria. Him being a doctor, he knows of the many attempts at using the plant for medicinal purposes.

"Alright then, oversoul Melia!" Shiro said enthusiastically, this was the first spar he'd had in a long time. The oversoul formed, a big broadsword, ocean blue in color, the waves of Foryoku within it making it seem like the ocean's waves were hitting against its walls. The sword was curved, the blade sticking out in a semi-oval shape, while the tip curved at a sharp angle backwards to form a hook-like shape. The hilt was golden, delicately wrapped by a red ribbon that flowed down, swishing with the wind's movements. Dangling from the two red ribbons was the same flower pendant that hung from Shiro's necklace.

"This thing doesn't even look remotely _like_ a flower!" Horo Horo exclaimed with an accusing finger.

"I never said that my power depends on flowers, it's just based on one." Shiro said with a shrug, his tone was light and cheerful.

"It doesn't even have anything to do with plants or the earth for that matter." Faust pointed out, speaking for the first time.

"That's because Lugia's connections to nature as well as mine, are strongly connected to both wind and water."

"How come?" Yoh asked and Shiro chuckled.

"That's more of a personal matter." He said as he took his fighting stance.

"Heh, well it doesn't matter, I'll simply freeze your entire oversoul and crush it!" Horo Horo exclaimed as he lunged towards Shiro.

OOOO

"Ow…my ears!" Lazar exclaimed while clutching his ears as the three of them walked through the woods, towards their cave.

"I can barely hear you, Lazar, so save your breath." Adrian said grumpily as he stomped instead of walked. The three of them had spent the last hour merely trying to get up without falling down. The high pitch wind was a bit too strong for their ears to handle, it caused their balance to tip over for a while, the effect soon wore off, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt their dignity.

"Arme* Ashe. She's completely helpless." Lazar mumbled as he held the tiny dragon in his arms closer and tighter.

"Did you see Sora?" Miguel amplified his voice enough for Adrian to hear, which, to Adrian's irritation, _still_ sounded like whispering.

"I don't care about that creep; he either left us to save his own ass or fainted, or even died." Adrian shouted in a strong Italian accent.

"What?! I heard you say Sora's name, what about that bastard?" Lazar shouted at the top of his lungs, he was barely able to hear himself even then. Soon after, all the birds and small animals scurried away to some safe haven as the deaf multilingual trio shouted and screeched at each other for the rest of the walk. Needless to say, Miguel only spoke two sentences.

OOOO

He didn't even get the chance to have a glimpse at what hit him before Ren tumbled down from a kick in the gut.

"Ren are you okay?!" Yoh called out from his position.

"He's too-!" Horo Horo started but was cut off by a splash of waves that hit his face.

"How come you didn't freeze it?" Shiro asked as he stood in the middle of the yard, surrounded by the three of them.

"Ah…I might be overdoing it?" Shiro whispered to himself.

"Amazing…the three of us together can't keep up with him." Yoh breathed.

"Nonsense." Ren said as he appeared directly behind Shiro. "After all, this guy didn't even make it through the preliminary rounds!" he exclaimed as he moved his oversoul to strike, but before he could even bring down his arm, Shiro's sword was already at his throat, a mere centimeter away from drawing blood.

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><p>* Everybody's using their armor oversouls. I know this is set in the anime, but I'd like to think of it as a sort of AU where they have already found their armor oversouls, but I think Ren still hasn't developed his lightning attacks just yet in this fight.<p>

*Arme: Poor (German) (I know most of you don't like it when I use foreign words in here but sometimes I just can't help it.)

Thunder: Again, sorry for the weird cliffhanger….it wasn't meant to end that way but I got carried away again and I had to cut stuff off that'll be part of the next chapter. I hope the information about the flower didn't bore you that much. I actually picked it out randomly but the amount of similarities it had with Shiro's personality really stunned me and I just HAD to write all of that down. Personally I find it short…and I'm not happy about that but…I hope you liked it.

Please Review!


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